When I look back over the path the Lord has led me, I can trace certain mercies clearly: answered prayers, near-escapes, unexpected provisions. Yet I often wonder how many more mercies lie hidden in the folds of His providence unseen, but no less real. How many times has His hand turned aside the danger I never sensed, hushed the accusation I never heard, or stilled the storm I never saw gathering?
The psalmist calls Him "my strength and my shield." (Psalm 28:7) Strength is felt within; the shield guards externally. I feel His strength in the hour of trial, but His shielding is mostly secret. Every peaceful night's rest, every uneventful journey, every quiet day untouched by calamity is the fruit of His invisible mercies.
The Lord protects His redeemed people from unknown adversaries: from the temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil; from all the arrows that fly by day, and from all the terrors that haunt us by night.
Knowing as we do that our adversary, the devil, walks about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour; our security from his hostile attacks is this the Lord is our shield. Though earth and Hell should combine their malice they are safe, whom God protects.
If I could read the full record of His care, I would find that many a sorrow never came, because He forbade it; and many a snare never closed, because He broke it first. Someday in glory, when the curtain of time is drawn aside, I shall behold the multitude of dangers from which He rescued me and my praise will swell for mercies once unknown.
Until that day, I would walk quietly under His watchful eye, thankful not only for what I remember, but for what I never knew. The same hand that fashioned the stars, guards my steps upon the earth. The same Shepherd who laid down His life for the sheep, now guides and keeps them in paths of peace.
[Charles H. Spurgeon]
Psalm 121:7-8 ... The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul. The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.
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